A pepper harvester includes a picking mechanism for picking peppers from pepper plants. One or more air outlets are located forward of the front end of the picking mechanism. An air supply provides compressed air to the air outlets, which direct air streams backwards towards the picking mechanism or other portion of the harvester which can collect the peppers. During operation of the harvester, peppers which fall from pepper plants ahead of the picking mechanism are blown backwards by the air streams onto the picking mechanism to be collected, thereby increasing the yield of the harvester. The harvester can be used for other fruits or vegetables in addition to peppers.